Maryland didn’t have to wait long once the bye week arrived.
The Terrapins have fired head coach Mike Locksley, according to multiple reports Wednesday morning. ESPN was first to report the news and CBS Sports reported shortly after that the two parties were on the verge of parting ways.
The move comes four days after a 37-30 loss to Rutgers dropped Maryland to 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the Big Ten. The Terps led 23-13 at halftime, then gave up 24 straight points. Malik Washington hit DeJuan Williams for a 10-yard touchdown with 1:45 left to make it a one-score game, and Maryland got the ball back once again, but couldn’t find the tying score.
It was the fifth straight loss for Maryland, which opened the season with wins over Hampton (62-0) and UConn (38-14). Since then, the Terps have lost to Virginia Tech 35-26, UCLA 54-3, Nebraska 48-23, #5 Ohio State 45-16 and Rutgers. That’s an average of 43.8 points allowed per game during the skid, and Maryland has been outscored 92-13 in the second half of its four Big Ten games, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Over the weekend, we shared that Locksley had relieved defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach Ted Monachino of his duties the day after the Rutgers loss. “As I evaluate our program, I believe this change is necessary,” Locksley said in a statement at the time.
Three days later, the same assessment fell on him.
Locksley finishes 39-54 at Maryland, including a 1-5 interim run in 2015 after Randy Edsall was fired. Athletic director Jim Smith publicly supported him on September 30, and the Terps lost three more games afterward.
His contract calls for him to receive $9.75 million and there are no compensation or mitigation provisions on that deal, meaning the Terps will pay everything if that, even in the event Locks lands another coaching job.
The Locksley era was at a real high point. After a 3-9 start in 2019 and a 2-3 COVID season, Maryland went 7-6, 8-5 and 8-5 from 2021 to 2023 and won three straight bowl games: the Pinstripe Bowl against Virginia Tech (54-10), Duke’s Mayo Bowl against NC State (16-12) and the Music City Bowl against Auburn (31-13). Those Taulia Tagovailoa teams were the best Maryland has put on the field since joining the Big Ten.
The bottom fell out after that. Maryland went 4-8 in 2024 and 2025, finishing 1-8 in conference play both years. Last fall, the Terps started 4-0, then lost their final eight games. Including this season, Maryland has lost 13 straight games to Power Conference opponents and is 2-20 in the Big Ten since the start of 2024.
Locksley, a Washington, D.C. native, was one of the area’s most respected recruiters and offensive minds long before he got the Maryland job. He spent 1997-2002 in College Park as running backs coach and recruiting coordinator, then made stops at Florida (running backs and recruiting coordinator) and Illinois (offensive coordinator, 2005-2008). His first head coaching job at New Mexico went 2-26 from 2009 until he was fired four games into the 2011 season.
He returned to Maryland as offensive coordinator from 2012 to 2015, then rebuilt his reputation at Alabama, moving from analyst in 2016 to co-offensive coordinator and eventually offensive coordinator under Nick Saban. He won the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant in 2018 before Maryland hired him in December of that year.
Maryland is off this week before hosting Illinois on Oct. 31, giving whoever takes over on an interim basis a full week with the team before kickoff. ESPN notes that longtime assistant Aazaar Abdul-Rahim will be chosen as interim head coach.
This is the first FBS head coaching change of the cycle. This time last year, a total of nine different schools had decided to make a change during a record offseason of coaching changes.
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